Blog about taking back our kids and ourselves from the world. We now strive to serve God in all that we do, we home school our children and we offer foster care to children…..all as Servants of Christ.

Where to Buy Quality Bread Ingredients…….Cheap!

No matter what I do, I am always trying to find the most frugal way to accomplish it. From food to clothes to entertainment, cheap is the way to go in my house……but, that doesn’t mean that I want or will accept cheap quality. By buying all of the family’s clothing used, we can get name brand clothes for a quarter of the cost. Going to the movies on Wacky $5 Tuesday allows us to occasionally see a brand new flick (although it’s REALLY hard to see movies that glorify God nowadays!), and buying bulk helps to stretch the grocery budget. A little research and plenty of prayer is the best way to save a lot of money.

I approached my bread the same way. Nutrition is the main motivator of making my own bread, but it had to be really frugal. Walmart has loaves of whole wheat bread for $1.18, so I knew that was going to be hard to beat……even if homemade bread was healthier. It took me a few days to research where to buy all of the ingredients and which brands were the best bang for my buck. I also had to make an initial investment for the grain mill (I already had my Kitchen Aid Mixer), but that big purchase will pay dividends for years to come.

1. NutriMill Grain Mill. My husband purchased the mill for me as a gift on Amazon.com for a little over $200. We have a Prime membership, making all of our shipping free, so we saved some money there. Of course, there are other grain mills out there, so do your research on prices and ask your baking friends their preferences and reviews.

2. Kitchen Aid Mixer. I have an awesome husband! My mixer was another gift from my amazing mate, back ten or so years ago. These are also pricy, but COMPLETELY WORTH IT! I cannot even imagine my cooking life without my mixer……..yet, I do have my eye on a Bosch mixer. Um, Dave????

3. Bread Pans. I use two pans that I picked up at Walmart. I think they were Betty Crocker and the price was reasonable. They are dark, nonstick pans, which some bakers will not use. As a matter of fact, after all the research that I have done, the consensus is that shiny pans make the best loaf. Yeah, those are the next on my wish list.

4. Cooling Racks. These I purchased back when my family was eat up with Pampered Chef. For about a two year stretch, we had parties, went to parties, and collected lots of their awesome goodies. Their cooling racks are awesome, and have held up beautifully after almost 7 years.

BREAD INGREDIENTS LIST:

1. Grain: My friend Raegan started me on my way to baking my own bread. She was so sweet to take the time to explain ingredients, a recipe, and what she uses. After A LOT of research on grain, would you believe that I found the cheapest price on a quality grain at WALMART! Shoot, that’s where I do most of my shopping anyway, so I know their prices are hard to beat……yet, their price for grain is almost HALF the price of their competitors……Wow. Now, you cannot buy the grain in the stores, you must buy it at Walmart.com, but if you order over $50 you get free shipping. I buy (4) 25 lb. buckets of Hard White Wheat @ $13.67 a bucket. My order comes to $57.85 with tax. 100 pounds of grain for about $60 is an AMAZING deal!

NOTE: The buckets that the grain comes in are horribly hard to open!! Therefore, I ordered a bucket opener from Walmart for 4 bucks. Saves lots of aggravation 🙂

2. Yeast. I use Fleischmann’s Instant Dry Yeast (16 oz. bags, 2 pk.) and the best price I have found has been for a bulk purchase at Sams Club for $4.78 plus tax. I know that a lot of bakers swear by Saf yeast, but I cannot beat the price of Fleischmann’s at Sam’s, and it works great for me. I store it in the freezer at all times, and just scoop it out of the plastic container I keep it in every time I bake bread.

4. Vital Wheat Gluten. Back to online shopping for this item. I purchase my gluten from http://www.bulkfoods.com @ $14.98 for 5 pounds. The shipping can be pricy if you just order that one bag. However, if you order $75 you can get $5 shipping. For my family, we use cashews for vegan cooking, so a couple of bags of nuts and a couple of bags of gluten will usually get me over $75. They sell lots of items, so check it out.

All other ingredients are pretty basic, which I buy wherever it’s on sale. Hope this list aids you in your quest to making wholesome and delicious homemade bread for your family!

3 responses to “Where to Buy Quality Bread Ingredients…….Cheap!”

I had NO idea that we could buy wheat berries from Walmart!!!!! The place I buy mine from is $39 for 45 pounds and I can now get 52 pounds for only $26.82!!!! This is awesome!! Thank you for sharing this!!!!!